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Dec 31, 2012 at 12:01 AMDec 31, 2012 at 12:36 AM

Sophomore swingman Ryan Carney’s 38-point effort led the Oliver Ames boys basketball team to an 82-77 victory over Walpole in the championship final of the 2012 Val Muscato Tournament on Sunday afternoon.

Sophomore swingman Ryan Carney’s 38-point effort led the Oliver Ames boys basketball team to an 82-77 victory over Walpole in the championship final of the 2012 Val Muscato Tournament on Sunday afternoon.

“Ryan Carney is the complete package,” said Tigers coach Don Byron. “He’s getting better defensively all the time, and 38 points is a full night’s work. Walpole is a good team, a real quality Bay State League team that we may see in the state tournament later. You expect a good team like that to make a couple of good runs at you in each half.”

The game began as a lightning-paced shootout, with Walpole racing to a 22-16 first-period lead on the broad shoulders of junior center Adam Quinlan, who scored seven points in that frame while dominating the rebounding battle at both ends of the floor. But Carney kept OA close, accounting for 12 points in that period

That pattern continued into the second quarter, and by the time the two squads sprinted into halftime, Carney had 22 points to Quinlan’s 13, while the visitors still held the lead, 41-39.

There were some dynamic shifts in that dramatic second quarter, as Walpole (2-3) built a 32-24 advantage, only to see Tigers Andrew Reardon and St. Clair Ryan join Carney in crafting a 14-3 OA surge that put the Tigers on top, 38-35. But then Rebels junior guard Ryan Fogarty heated up, keying a 6-1 burst over the final minutes of the half as Walpole regained the advantage.

In the second half, OA (4-1) began using a box-and-one, and the Rebels’ offense began running into turnovers. And with a renewed interest in boxing out, the Tigers began to climb back into the rebounding battle. Those two factors led to Walpole forwards taking two damaging technical fouls, and while they weren’t the only deciding factors, they were certainly one more frustrating obstacle for the visitors in that third period.

The first tech came in the midst of a 9-3 OA run, featuring a Carney trey, that put the home team on top, 48-44, only two minutes into the second half. OA would never trail after that.

A Ryan 3-point play keyed another OA surge, leading to the second technical foul call, and by the time Carney got through shooting free throws, OA led, 61-48. Tigers sophomore center Brendan Welch contributed big minutes off the bench, with a couple of hoops and some major rebounds, and OA led, 67-54, after three periods.

“We wanted to try and win the first four minutes of that third quarter, like we do every period,” said Byron. “The box-and-one really worked, and our kids did a terrific job at it. And we also tightened up our rebounding – we had gotten pretty well beaten up on the glass in that first half.”

Walpole began looking for more 3-pointers in the final frame, but while junior Scott Arsenault canned one trey, Carney, Reardon and Ryan kept scoring for OA, and the lead stood at 75-61 with 5:10 remaining. But if that margin looked safe, the Rebels had other ideas, and 3-pointers by Arsenault and Pat Donovan cut the lead in half, 77-70, with 2:08 to go.

Fogarty practically took over the game for the Rebels, running the break and canning a trey from the top of the key that made it a very suspenseful 77-73 with 1:05 left. Unfortunately for Walpole, Fogarty fouled out and single free throws by Reardon and junior Nick Cidado padded the OA lead.

Guard Johnny Adams scored on a rebound for Walpole, closing it to 79-75 with 25 seconds left. Carney drained one free throw, but a Maurice Young bucket made it 80-77 with 17.6 ticks to go. Finally – who else – Carney converted a pair of foul shots to clinch it for OA.

“You know, defense is what won us both games in this tournament,” said Byron.

That might sound funny after a 159-point game, but it was indeed the difference.

Carney’s 38 points included four 3-pointers, and he also grabbed five rebounds. Cidado led all rebounders with 12; he also blocked two shots and scored eight points. Reardon and Ryan both scored 13 points for OA, while Welch contributed nine points and eight rebounds in his impressive outing.

Quinlan led Walpole with 22 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots, while Fogarty added 20 points and Adams 12.

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